Rivalry follows Henry to New Jersey as familiar English foe arrives in town

HARRISON, N.J. — To an Arsenal man, there is no bigger game during the English Premier League season than the match against fellow London club Tottenham.

Thierry Henry thought he left that all behind when he signed with Barcelona in 2007. Real Madrid was now his new rival. And while the Spanish league powers played some memorable games during Henry’s three years in Spain, the buzz during the week leading up to a game with Tottenham was still a vivid memory.

APNewest Red Bull soccer player Thierry Henry will make his debut against Tottehham in the opener of the Barclays New York Challenge tonight in New Jersey.

When Henry signed with the Red Bulls on July 14 it didn’t take him long to scan the schedule to see when he would be making his debut. What he saw likely made him do a double-take.

“What a script, right?” Henry said shaking his head. “The first game against Tottenham. I didn’t even know because it wasn’t planned that long ago so, yeah, Tottenham. What am I to do?”

The Red Bulls and Tottenham will open the Barclays New York Challenge tonight at 8:30 at Red Bull Arena. Tomorrow night, Manchester City takes on Sporting Lisbon at 8:30, with the predetermined second games — Tottenham vs. Sporting Lisbon at 1 p.m. and Red Bulls vs. Manchester City at 3:30 — set for Sunday.

“Playing Tottenham is always a special thing for a guy who played for Arsenal,” Henry said.

“It is a special game for me. It’s such a big rivalry. I don’t expect anything less or more than getting some stick, but I dealt with that for eight years. I don’t think it’s going to be an easy game for us.”

According to Red Bulls coach Hans Backe, Henry will start tonight and likely start Sunday, too, but he will only play 45 minutes maximum as he works his way back into shape. Henry has had just four practice sessions with the club and is targeting July 31 against the Dynamo in Houston to be fully match fit.

“It’s always a massive game. It’s a game the fans want to win for sure,” Tottenham coach Harry Redknapp said about the rivalry during a press conference yesterday at Red Bull Arena. “Last year we had two great games with Arsenal. We managed to beat them at home, which was a big game for us.

“If you can beat Arsenal, the fans are happy. We got beat last year by Portsmouth in the (F.A.) Cup semifinals (on Sunday) and came back and beat Arsenal on the Wednesday, and the fans would much rather have beaten Arsenal than won the Cup semifinal. That’s how they feel about beating Arsenal. It’s always important for us.”

Redknapp believes Henry pretty much stands alone among foreign players in Premier League history. In his eight years with Arsenal, Henry scored a club-record 226 goals in 370 games.

“The Red Bulls have signed one of the great players, in my opinion, in the history of the Premier League,” Redknapp said.

“It’s probably a tossup between Thierry Henry and (Gianfranco) Zola as the foreign player who made the biggest impact. He was just such a fantastic player, an amazing player at Arsenal, but now he’s a player for the Red Bulls and Arsenal is history for him.”

But Tottenham isn’t. Not yet, anyway. And for an Arsenal man, it likely never will be.